It often is assumed that “organic” equals “expensive.” This is not always the case. Take for example the Ardales wines of Bodegas Arúspide. They make a red from Tempranillo and a white from Airén that are certified organic and retail for about $12 a bottle; $130 a case. Not bad considering it has to be shipped across an ocean.

Bodegas Arúspide is in Valdepeñas, in the southern part of the massive wine region known as Castilla La Mancha, home of the legendary knight Hidalgo Don Quixote. It is 120 miles due south of Madrid, at about the halfway point between the capital city and the Mediterranean port of Málaga.

All their wines are fermented using a method called carbonic maceration. Unlike the conventional methods, familiar to most through old “I Love Lucy” reruns, the grapes are not crushed before fermentation but rather are stored in a cool, carbon dioxide-rich environment where the juice ferments inside the grape without using added yeasts as a catalyst.

The result is fruit-forward, friendly, approachable wines that are best drunk young. The most familiar wine that utilizes this method is the oft-overhyped Beaujolais Nouveau.

A relatively young winery, Arúspide has been in business for only 10 years, yet it already has gained a strong foothold in the Spanish and world wine markets for its well-crafted, lush wines. The Tempranillo is especially suited to many modern American tastes because it is full of ripe cherry and mulberry, very jammy with soft tannins and an underlying structure of elegant oak.

The Airén grape is unfamiliar to most American palates, but in Spain it is so ubiquitous as to have been estimated to be the most widely planted grape, in terms of acreage, in the whole world. This despite being grown only in Spain. It makes up about 30 percent of all the grapes grown there, about 760,000 acres.

So imagine an area about the size of Linn and Johnson counties planted with nothing but this grape. The Ardales rendition of the wine is bright and citrusy and would perhaps appeal to lovers of the New Zealand style of Sauvignon Blanc, though not as flinty. Try it with a simple Spanish cousin to the famous French peasant dish Cassoulet.

Table Wine is a weekly feature of the Press-Citizen. Prices listed are estimated retail. Chef Kurt Michael Friese is co-owner with his wife, Kim, of the Iowa City restaurant Devotay. Questions and comments may be posted at www.press-citizen.com.